


BOOK 6 THE WEDDING GUEST'S ENCORE

by Mariahtessjojasper



Category: the Wedding guest
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:47:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22961164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariahtessjojasper/pseuds/Mariahtessjojasper
Summary: 9/4/1 Two  years after the hijacking  Jay and Samira are living in Berkeley with their daughter Chantin. Chantin (called Chatty) is 2 years old.  Gale and Jay and Hassan work in the San Francisco office of Global.  Amal is in Faisalabad Pakistan and Hassan has continued to see her there. He has realized he is in love with Amal and wants to marry her and have a life with her. He is looking for a way to bring her to England or the US. He has had a sexual relationship with McKenzie over the two years since the hijacking while still going to see Amal in Faisalabad.  Neither woman knows about his involvement with the other. Hassan wants to break-it off with McKenzie and wants Gale and Samira and Jay to help him get Amal back to the States.  He believes that since Jay and Samira found a way to be together they can figure out a way for him.
Relationships: Samira Jay Sammy Nitin
Kudos: 1





	1. When a man loves a hijacker

Two years later.  
Berkeley, California  
Jay, Gale and Hassan are running Global Protection, USA with offices in the Salesforce Tower San Francisco.  
Sammy Amelia are still in England. Terry is still there too but he flies back and forth.  
Jay and Samira have leased their London House in Notting Hill and have bought a house in the North Berkeley Hills.  
Jay and Samira named the baby, a little girl, Chantin after Jay's mother. The baby is now 2 years old.

Samira is sitting on the edge of the bathtub. She is on the phone. Two year old Chantin is splashing the water out of the toilet. A Bernese Mountain dog is standing next to Chantin. Hassan is standing in the doorway to the bathroom.  
Hassan: That is disgusting. How can you let her do that?  
Samira on phone: Let me call you back, Amelia. My idiot brother my unmarried brother my never really committed to anyone brother is standing here criticizing my parenting.  
Samira hangs up.  
Samira: One, the dog drinks out of the toilet all the time and the dog is fine. Two, just before we came in to play I cleaned this toilet myself with Clorox and my dear brother Clorox kills everything, e coli, every germ, things that sterilization doesn't even kill like Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Ebola. Three, if you have a two year old who wants to play in the water, toilets are the perfect place; they are already full of water and it's easy to keep refilling the water that gets splashed out and the tile is waterproof. And four, research has shown kids exposed to viruses and bacteria and allergens even though I know this toilet is germ free are much healthier and more resistant than kids who aren't and fifth, when you have a two year old talk to me.  
Hassan: What if she plays in it when you aren't supervising, when it isn't clean?  
Smaira: She doesn't. Look at the top of the door.There is a latch. She can't open doors by herself but if she could the latch keeps her out of the bathroom.  
Hassan: It's disgusting. You are a terrible parent.  
Samira: True.  
Hassan: What do other mothers think? Do they know you do this?  
Samira: I learned this from a mother in the play group.  
Hassan: Does Jay know you do this?  
Samira: Of course not you know what a neat freak he is.  
Hassan: You're disgusting.  
Hassan: My niece will be lucky if she gets out of this family alive.  
Samira: Nap time.  
Samira picks up Chantin.  
The dog takes a long drink from the toilet.  
Chantin points to the dog: Cat cat.  
Hassan: Dog.  
Chatin looks at him starts to cry: Cat.  
Samira: Sammy taught Chantin to call Bailey "cat." He thought it was funny. He's like that. Jay's sister said kids over-generalize and it's fine. All furry four-legged household pets are cats right now.  
Samira takes Chantin into Chantin's bedroom. Hassan follows her.  
Hassan: Can we talk?  
Samira: Let me put her down for a nap first.  
Hassan: Will she go?  
Samira: Usually sleeps great after water play. Probably teach her to swim soon.  
Hassan: Swim? She's two.  
Samira: This is California. Two year olds swim.  
Hassan shakes his head: Okay.  
Hassan goes in the kitchen, gets a roll of paper towels and cleans up the water on the floor of the bathroom.  
Hassan calls down the hall to Samira: Can I pour us wine or do you have any whiskey? I need to talk about something. Drink would help.  
Samira: In the cupboard. I think there is a bottle of Crown Royal that won some award.  
Hassan: Want some?  
Samira: Sure if you are. I want ice.  
Samira: Also some pot in the top drawer of the Chinese chest in the living room.  
Hassan: Drink's enough.  
Samira comes into the living room. Two glasses, one with ice, are sitting on the table in front of the window. The bottle of Crown Royal is on the table. Hassan is sitting looking out at the bay.  
Hassan hands her a glass.  
Hassan: To love and marriage.  
Samira: To love and marriage. That's an odd toast for you.  
They touch glasses. Hassan looks out the window.  
Hassan: This is what I want.  
Samira: A picture window?  
Hassan: A house in the Berkeley hills and a view and a marriage and a child  
Samira: McKenzie? Proposing?  
Hassan: That's what I want to talk about  
Samira's phone buzzes in her back pocket  
Smaira: One minute  
Samira: Hey Tex. You are on speaker. I'm sitting here with Hassan drinking whiskey. Where did this whiskey come from? It's good.  
Jay: Gale brought it. For you. He thought you'd like it. I think it's about $125 a bottle.  
Hassan pours more into his glass. Shrugs. Smiles.  
Samira: The demon is asleep and Hassan thinks I'm a terrible disgusting mother and he wants to marry McKenzie.  
Hassan: No I don't. I do not want to marry McKenzie. I want to break up with her.  
Jay: I've just landed. Gale is driving me home. He's going to Allison's tonight. They are going to Napa tomorrow to look at some property. Do you need anything from the store.  
Samira: Not the store, could you maybe bring home Thai? From Sweet Basil? Gale's welcome for dinner if you bring home Thai. Eggplant, Pad Thai, and peanut sauce .  
Jay: Okay. Can you stay Hassan?  
Hassan: Yeah. Thanks. I'd like to talk to you both.  
Jay: Sure . Great see you in a couple of hours.  
Samira: How much do you love me?  
Jay: More than all the guns in Texas.  
Jay: How much do you love me?  
Samira: More than all the diapers in the landfill.  
Jay: You brother is right. You are disgusting.  
Samira: You are the one who got us into this parenting thing. I told you I wasn't ready.  
Jay: You were ready.  
Samira: My brother needs to talk.  
Jay: Okay 1'll be home in a couple of hours.  
Hangs up.  
Samira: Okay I don't have to cook dinner. So talk. So you want to marry McKenzie have a baby and get a house and have a picture window.  
Hassan: NO I DO NOT WANT TO MARRY MCKENZIE. You are not listening. She is beautiful and fun and sexy. And a great shot. I like her. But I don't want to marry her. I want to marry Amal.  
Samira: Amal? The hijacker Amal? The girl on the plane with the gun that Amal? Amal in Faisalabad.  
Hassan: She is a US citizen. She's dual, like Jay. I thought if anyone would understand you would. And Jay.  
Samira: Are you joking?  
Hassan: I am not joking.  
Hassan: You know Amal. She is sweet and unassuming and kind.  
Samira: Hassan, how do you think you could ever get her back into the U.S.? They’d send her to prison for 30 years. She hijacked a plane.  
Hassan: I can't believe you are saying this. She didn't hurt anybody.  
Samira: What is wrong with McKenzie? She is crazy about you.  
Hassan: You love who you love. Isn't that what Jay says? You love who you love. Why do you call him Tex?  
Samira: I used to call him Cowboy. Kind of evolved into Tex. He seemed like a cowboy to me. Makes him laugh. I like to make him laugh.  
Hasan: Do you have doubts about him? Jay? Still in love with him?  
Samira: No doubts. Not for a long time. Loved him before he really accepted how much I love him. He used to be afraid I would leave him. But after I got pregnant he stopped worrying.  
Hassan: You must understand about Amal. Amal just feels right. I like her gentleness. I like that she speaks Urdu and Punjabi and Pashto. I like that she is quiet and sweet and she is Muslim. She wears a scarf. I feel at peace when I am with her. I feel like I am home when I am with her. Mackenzie is exciting and fun, but I have to be on my toes around her, ready. With Amal I relax. I don't have to try. I can just be. Mckenzie is too much. She's hard work. I don't have to do anything around Amal. I want to marry Amal. I miss her when I am away from her. She would be a good wife, a good mother. I want to bring her here and I want to go to med school. I took the MCAT and I applied to med schools and I've been accepted at Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Melon and San Francisco and Irvine. Samira shakes her head.  
Samira: There is no way. Amal? No way. Med school? Okay fine. We'll help you with med school. But Amal. No. It's impossible.  
Hassan: You and Jay found a way. To be together.  
Samira: It wasn't that easy. Amal? It's not the same thing. But Pakistan wanted to extradite me and charge me, try me, with accessory to murder. It was a mess.  
Hassan: I want to to talk to Jay and Gale about it.  
Smaira: Does Jay know anything about this? Does Gale? Terry?  
Hassan: No one knows.  
Samira: How did this happen?  
Hassan: It started on the plane. She was worried about you and the baby. We talked. We sat together. Something happened. Both of us felt it.  
Samira: On the plane going to Cuba?  
Hassan: I felt protective of her. I didn't want anything to happen to her. She had a sweetness. You saw it. You know what I am talking about. You felt how she cared about you. Then when they got off in Cuba the Pakistan ambassador came on the plane and I talked to him.  
Hassan: The ambassador said her father was coming and he would get her and her brother back to Faisalabad. Before she got off the plane with the ambassador she asked me to come to see her in Faisalabad if I could. She's not a terrorist. She was 19\. Her brother got her into this. They both just got caught up in something.  
Hassan: They took them to the Pakistan Embassy then the Pakistanis put her and brother up in a hotel. She called me. I asked her to. The Cubans put Gale and I and the pilots in a different hotel. She said she was okay. To tell you she was sorry. Her father came and they flew back to Pakistan. To Lahore. I asked her to call me when she got back to Faisalabad just to be sure she got back okay. And then I kept thinking about her. I called her. We talked. Then I went in to Pakistan to see her. And I liked her family. They liked me. I went more than once.  
Smaira: More than once? How much more than "more than once"?  
Hassan: About every month or every other month.  
Samira: Every month, every other month for how long?  
Hassan: About a year and a half.  
Samira: No. How could you do that?  
Samira: Jay is going to want to talk you about this. Terry too.  
Samira: You've been seeing her for well over a year. And McKenzie too.  
Hassan looking down: Yeah.  
Samira: You are having sex with both of them?  
Hassan: No no no I haven't ever had sex with Amal. I don't think she has had sex with anyone. But with McKenzie. Yeah.  
Smaira: I can't believe you. What a mess!  
Smaira: You take McKenzie away from Terry, from Alex, Lord Dunham, and you don't really want her, you want the hijacker.  
Hassan: Look McKenzie does what she wants. At first I was just going along with her. I didn't take her away from anyone. You know McKenzie initiated things with me. You know that. And she is not that easy to say no to.  
Samira: Hassan, if you dump her, McKenzie will probably shoot you. And she is a very good shot. She is almost as good as Jay.


	2. The hijacker or the FBI beauty queen

Jay, Samira, Gale and Hassan are sitting in the chairs at the table in front of the window. Thai food cartons are scattered on the table. Hassan and Gale are drinking the whiskey. Samira and Hassan clear the table. Jay lights a joint. Inhales. Offers it to Gale. Gale shakes his head. Jay offers it to Hassan. Hassan takes it. Jay leans back closes his eyes. Hassan inhales deeply offers it to Samira. She shakes her head. He hands it back to Jay.  
Hassan: This is good stuff, man. The whiskey too. Both good.  
Gale: Yeah. The whiskey. From a grateful customer. Brought it over here to share with your sister.  
Hassan looking out: Why do they call it the Bay bridge? It is two bridges. Two complete separate bridges. One to the island out there and then one from the island to San Francisco.  
Gale: Yerba Buena island. Treasure Island. We think of it as one bridge. But you are right. It's two bridges. You quitting Global, Hassan? You going to med school?  
Hassan: Got in several schools. Just need to choose. Going to talk to Terry. Maybe part time.  
Samira: Hassan wants to talk about something.  
Gale: So talk.  
Hassan: I want to get married.  
Gale: McKenzie. You're a nice couple.  
Hassan: NOT McKenzie.  
Gale: Who then?  
Hassan: Amal.  
Jay: Who is Amal?  
Gale: The girl from the plane? The hijacker? That Amal? Yeah. I saw it. There was something going on between you two. I didn't think anything about it.  
Jay: You want to marry the hijacker? Zala? The hijacker?  
Samira: Listen to him.  
Hassan: Okay. You know she cared about Samira and the baby. I mean she cared. She got caught-up in something. She was 19. She came to the USA to go to school. She was lonely. She didn't adapt well.  
Jay: How did she end up on that plane with a gun? You know Samira could have been hurt, killed, miscarried. Samira could have lost the baby.  
Hassan: Amal and her brother were going to San Francisco State. He's a year younger. Her brother was flunking out of school and started hanging out with a couple of Syrian guys. Amal was doing well academically but she was homesick and lonely. She didn't make friends. Family has money. She was born here when her dad was in Med school. She’s actually a US citizen. How she got admitted into the country. Her parents paid to get her brother in. Even made some fancy donation to the school library or gym or something so they would take him. Wanted her brother there to keep watch over her, keep her company. Typical Pakistani thing. He loved the U.S. Was smoking pot all day not going to class. Started going to hookah places. He’s good looking. Had lots of girls. Loved American girls. Met the Syrian guys. Partied with them. The Syrian guys had flunked out, lost their scholarships, were losing their student visas but they liked the USA. Wanted to stay here. Had no money. The Syrian guys were going to a mosque down in Fremont. A man started coming to the mosque, got friendly with the young guys there especially the two Syrians. He offered the guys $10,000 each, $2000 up front, the rest on completion, to see if they could get on a plane dressed as women. Wearing burkas. Showed them the money even. But he wanted two girls to go also, dressed in burkas. He wanted five people in burkas to see if they could get on a plane. He would provide all the documents. Two women and three men. Not armed just dressed in burkas. Fly B.A. nonstop to London. The Syrians figured if they couldn't stay in The States they'd go to Morocco or Jordan or maybe Istanbul. As long as they had money. All they wanted was to be in a place where they could hang out smoke pot and party. And here was $10,000 each for dressing-up and getting on a plane. They asked Amal's brother to do it with them and to get his sister to be one of the girls. They believed well at least Amal's brother believed all they had to do was test the system to get the money. They wouldn't hurt anybody. So at worst they'd all get arrested, bailed out, say it was a joke and they'd get the money. The Syrians could disappear in The States. Or leave the country for like I said say Morocco. The man told them they would probably be stopped but he wanted them to see how far they could get. He told them to get as far as they could. He had told the Syrians there would be guns, fake guns sewn in the seats and they were to take them out and say it was a hijacking. Then they were to say it was just a joke. But when they got on and took out the guns, the guns looked real, so one of the Syrians fired one into the ceiling. Scared the shit out of everyone. Passengers and the kids. Amal didn't know there would be guns on the plane. She thought at most they would fly to London and then come back. They all had round trip tickets. But the Syrians knew there would be guns - they thought fake guns. They told Amal later they knew about the guns they swore they thought they would be fake. Not sure if the brother knew. The man from the mosque said there would be a lawyer waiting to bail them out if they were stopped and arrested. They were to keep saying it was just a joke. Did it for fun. And the lawyer would give them the rest of the money. If they got to London and back he would arrange to meet them at the mosque when they got back and give them the rest of the money there. Amal knew shed have to go back to Pakistan if they were caught. But she didn't care. She was worried about her brother and she was homesick. She wanted to go back to Pakistan. She didn't want to tell her parents she wanted to leave school so if she had to leave because of the arrest because she was doing what her brother said and taking care of him it would be better. Her parents would be mad but not because she didn't make it not because she had failed in The States. She felt she didn't fit in here. And she thought she needed to do what her brother said and also needed to protect him. He was 18 she was 19. The Syrians were just kids too. One was 18 the other 19. When they got all the way onto the plane the Syrian guys took out the guns and said they were hijacking the plane. The guns were sewn into the seats. They had to rip the fabric to get them out. Gave a gun to Amal and her brother. The guy you call the fifth man started talking about blowing-up the plane. He said there were not only guns but also explosives hidden on the plane. But Amal said he couldn't find the explosives. And by then Amal and the boys were freaking-out. They didn't want to be blown-up and they didn't really want to hijack a plane well Amal and her brother didn't, maybe the Syrian guys did, I'm not sure, neither is Amal but they for suroe didn't want to blow-up any planes. The boys are not religious they just wanted some money to stay in The States or go somewhere where they could party. With $20,000 between them, they thought they could disappear in the US or easily get out of the country. They wanted Amal’s brother to go with them. Amal and the boys held on to the guns not only to manage the passengers but to manage the 5th man. He didn't have a gun; there were only four guns. The Syrian boys got scared and so did Amal's brother. They thought they would be caught and maybe get the death penalty in the U.S. because the guns were real. They thought no one would believe it was a joke because of the real guns. They looked to Amal to tell them what to do. They were all just naive kids. Amal really didn't know about the guns til they were on the plane.  
Jay: Well she was holding one. And aiming it at people.  
Hassan: She was afraid then. She was afraid of what the passengers might do. And afraid of what the fifth man might do.  
Jay: How could they have gotten sucked into this?  
Hassan: They were kids naive kids.  
Samira: Hassan this girl is 10 years younger than you. And naive. She's a practically child. Are you sure about her?  
Hassan: I'm sure. Nine years. Younger. She should have just let brother go if he wanted to do it. He insisted she go. She is a year older but you know how it is with some of these guys. Sister takes orders. The man tried to get Amal to find another woman to go. But she didn't, wouldn't. She's not a hijacker. She did it because of her brother. And because she wanted to go home to Pakistan. She even told her brother he could have her money. She didn't want the $10,000.  
Jay: Well she was holding a gun. And aiming it at people. Hassan honestly she sound a bit dim.  
Hassan: She’s not dim. She an innocent. She’s not sophisticated. She was afraid of what the passengers might do. And afraid of what the fifth man might do. They thought he might try to get one of the guns and start killing passengers.  
Jay:Why didn't they surrender? Just surrender.  
Hassan: To who? Who could they surrender to?  
Hassan:She should have just let brother go if he wanted to do it. He insisted she go. She is a year older but you know how it is with some of these guys. Sister takes orders. The man at the mosque tried to get Amal to find another woman to go. But she didn't, wouldn't. She's not a hijacker. She did it because of her brother.  
Jay: She is a hijacker. She endangered your sister's life and Chatty's life.  
Hassan: She protected Samira's life. She would have given her life for Samira and the baby.  
Samira: I believe that, Jay. She was protective of me.  
Jay: Maybe, but she endangered you. I don't know if I want to help you Hassan.  
Hassan: Please.  
Samira: Kismet. Hassan would never have met this girl if I hadn't been on that plane. Maybe it is like us.  
Jay: It wouldn't be easy even if I'd go along with it.  
Hassan: We could get her a new identity.  
Jay: She didn't do well in The States before. Why would she do okay if she came back?  
Hassan: Because she'd have me. If I had met her before she left, she wouldn't have been on that plane.  
Jay: Come on Hassan there are lots of girls. Nice girls. The kind of girl you want. Traditional. Sweet, unassuming.  
Samira: Passive. Submissive.  
Jay: Submissive is nice in a girl.  
Jay winks at Samira.  
Jay: Every mosque has 20 girls that would line up to marry you. And now medical school. You can have your pick.  
Hassan: Yeah? Then why are you here with my sister? Why didn't you leave her in India? Why did you go back for her? Go through all that? Cause you love who you love, right? Don't you say that? There were probably 20 girls in every mosque who would have lined-up to marry you.  
Samira: They did. Line-up. He even married one. Lucky for me it didn't work out.  
Jay: Quiet. You are not part of this discussion.  
Gale: Eh Jay I think she probably is part of the conversation. Hassan is her brother.  
Jay: Well since I married her, he is my brother too. And I say no.  
Hassan: Just listen. Okay. Just listen. I love her man. You know what that is like. I feel at peace when I am with her. She's Muslim. She speaks Punjabi Urdu. You know I like to listen to her talk. It's soothing. She is what I want. I want to be with her. When I am with her I feel I'm home. I've never even had sex with her. She's who I had been waiting for. She is gentle and kind. And she loves me. Jay I know you know how it is.  
Jay: How would I know any of that. I am only here because I can't get away from your sister. And now she has trapped me with this demon baby. And she terrifies me.  
Samira: Yeah, Tex. I terrify you.  
Jay gets up out of his chair walks over behind Samira. Puts his hands on her shoulders, leans down kisses her on top of her head.  
Samira picks up his hand from her right shoulder, pulls his forward, turns his hand palm up, slowly licks his palm, then kisses his palm.  
Jay: She is teasing me. Trying to get me to want sex with her.  
He pulls his hand back.  
Gale: You two are pathetic. You have a two year old. Stop acting like you are still in love.  
Jay: Okay. You love her, Hassan. What do you need from us?  
Hassan: First McKenzie. Any way I could get Terry to take her off my hands.  
Jay laughs. Jay: I think he just married someone. Not announced to the shop but that’s what I heard. Samira: You do so fucking need a traditional woman. You think women are things men can dispose of as they wish? Pass around from one man to another?  
Hassan: No I don't.  
Jay: Ignore her. We can dispose of her as we wish.  
Jay quickly steps back.  
Samira: What are you doing?  
Jay: I didn't want you to hit me.  
Gale: Okay. You want to get this girl to the USA. England.  
Hassan: U S. I'm going to do med school here. Think I'll probably take San Francisco's offer.  
Jay: In India, it was Nitin. He got Samira the Jasmin Chaddha identity.  
Hassan: Could we use that identity? You still have the documents? Would that identity get her into the states.  
Gale: It was very good. We had everything, birth certificates, passports. Everything. Would get her into USA.  
Gale: We still have all the documents. We set it up so it looks like she went to Botswana to do a safari photography thing and then was out of touch. It's been almost 3 years. But Jasmine's documents are someone Samira's age. We can change the pictures but the age might be harder. It's on lots of the documents  
Jay: Have you said anything to her?  
Hassan: No. She talks about my moving there. She doesn't know about McKenzie. She doesn't see anyone else. She knows I want to go to med school. Her brother is in Jordan back in college now. He cleaned up his act. Her father likes me. I like them.  
Jay: What about the fifth man?  
Hassan: She doesn't know much. He wasn't the man who came to the mosque. Who got them ready. They were told someone would be watching to see how things went. After they boarded he identified himself. None of them liked him. He stayed on the plane to Cuba like he was one of the passengers. He slipped away after they got to Cuba.  
Gale: He had used a stolen passport. FBI tried to find him, dead end. But the FBI they know it was Amal and her brother and they know who the two Syrians are. They are not making a big deal about it. They wouldn't mind catching them but they are not a priority. They want the man from the mosque and the 5th man and if they could get Amal to identify them they might make a deal. Terry might know someone who could make a deal for her. Pakistan won't extradite them. But the FBI has talked to them in Pakistan. Pakistan doesn't really care but is sort of proud of them.  
Jay standing behind Samira again.  
Jay: Get up.  
Samira gets up.  
Jay takes her chair.  
Jay: Sit in my lap.  
Samira sits in his lap. He puts his arms around her.  
Jay: Okay.  
Hassan: Okay? Okay, what?  
Jay: Okay, we'll do whatever we can. I get it. You love who you love. A few days after we met, your sister and I took a bus, well buses from Jaipur to Goa. It was something like 35 hours. I felt at peace lying next to her. Listening to her breathing. Feeling her next to me. Never felt what I felt lying there next to your sister. Didn't know it was possible to feel that way. But your sister didn't feel what I felt. After two days in Goa I woke up alone. She left me in the middle of the night.  
Samira: I left you in the early morning.  
Jay: It took your sister time to recognize how much I meant to her. How good I was for her. I'll help you. But first I want to be sure it's what Amal wants.  
Gale: Yeah, okay. I'll help too. If it's what Amal wants. True love. Who can resist true love.  
Jay: Not sure how to plan it. Gale?  
Gale: Maybe we could find a way to use the Jasmin Chaddha identity. Can we get Amal from Faisalabad to Amritsar? To Jaipur. Nitin will help us. You flying in and out of Pakistan or have you been sneaking in and out.  
Hassan: No been flying in using my own passport.  
Gale: Okay. May need The Band, Jay. May need the Lost Boys.  
Samira gets up from Jay's lap. Walks out of the room. Comes back puts the Peter Pan hat on Jay and raises her wrist and shows her bracelet made from the bullet.  
Hassan: What are you doing?  
Gale and Jay are laughing.


	3. Getting the Band back together

Samira: When we were in India, Gale shot a jeweler and after the shooting Sammy got the bullet and they made it into a bracelet and gave it to me as a wedding gift.  
Hassan: You shot a jeweler in Delhi? You gave my sister a bullet for a wedding gift?  
Gale: In the foot. I shot him in the foot man. He deserved it. And he's okay. We were creating the impression that Deepesh was still alive and the jeweler gave us unnecessary trouble. We're sort of friends now. The jeweler and me. Anyway yeah I had it the bullet made into a bracelet. I thought she'd like it.  
Samira: I did like it. Next to my engagement ring which is an 8 carat emerald, it is my favorite piece of jewelry.  
Jay: 9 carats. The emerald is 9 carats.  
Samira: 8, 9.  
Gale: Your sister called us The Lost Boys and we called her Wendy so that made Jay, Peter Pan. Sammy and some of the military guys already called Jay, Robin Hood and referred to themselves as the Merry Men. Actually they never told me why. In India, me, Sammy, Nitin, Jim an army buddy of Jay and Sammy's, lives in India now, and a pilot we know, Cedric, we called ourselves The Band. Amelia too. The hat and the feather were wedding gifts from us and Jay wore the feather when he married Samira.  
Hassan: So that is either a Robin Hood hat and or a Peter Pan hat. He wore the feather at the wedding?  
Hassan: Yeah I guess I saw it in the pictures. Samira, you were beautiful. Wish I could have been there.  
Samira reaches across and squeezes Hassan's hand.  
Smaira: Me too.  
Samira: So what they are saying, my getting the bracelet and Jay putting on the green hat means we'll help you. Means Robin and the Merry Men will help you. Peter and the Lost Boys will help you. We'll get her here. The Band will help you.  
Samira: The ashram maybe?  
Gale: Maybe. Don't see it but may be a way. Anne would help us. Jay: Gale is our planner. And he's good at it. Clandestine master. He put together the plan that got Samira out of India. Back to England.  
Gale: Terry?  
Jay: Maybe. Probably.  
Gale: Okay. Hijacker going to be a challenge.  
Gale: You need to end things with McKenzie now. We don't want her to be a complication.  
Samira: Use the religion thing.  
Jay: What if she offers to convert?  
Samira: Oh. Say father arranged a marriage.  
Gale: Don't look at me. I'm happy to help with the plan getting her back but breaking up with a girl not my bailiwick unless you want to say you've got a boyfriend. I'm willing to play the boyfriend if you like.  
Laughter.  
Samira: I'll try to think of something. A pregnant girlfriend?  
Hassan: I'd like to keep McKenzie as a friend.  
Jay: Honesty?  
Samira makes a face. Gale groans.  
Gale: I gotta get going. Amal is in Faisalabad. Is she working? Going to school  
Hassan: She's working and going to school. Living at home with her parents.  
Gale: Can she travel?  
Hassan: Some places. Her brother went to Jordan. He's in school there now.  
Gale: Give me a day or two. You haven't approached her about this.  
Hassan: We have talked about wanting to be together. She knows I love her. I know she loves me. I have been feeling guilty about seeing both her and McKenzie for a long time. So haven't been real clear and direct about the future. What I want. She brings up my moving there.  
Jay: Finish up with McKenzie. This is going to be difficult enough. You'll be lucky if she doesn't shoot you, man.


	4. Step One

Late afternoon. Sun shinning in the big picture window. Hassan and Chantin are in the living room. Bailey is lying on the floor in the sun next to Hassan. Samira walks in.  
Hassan: Why do you have such a big dog?   
Samira: Everybody in Berkeley has a dog. And I like dogs. And Jay is gone a lot and her size scares people. She's a marshmallow though. Chantin is much more ferocious than the dog.  
Bailey looks at Samira and rolls over on her back and puts her feet up.  
Samira: She wants you to scratch her stomach.  
Hassan: I don't know .  
Samira: She is part of this family. You can wash your hands after. Scratch her stomach.  
Chantin walks over and flops down on Bailey's stomach. Bailey tries to lick her but can't reach her.  
Hassan: This is too much domesticity for me.  
Samira: I thought you wanted this. Picture window house in the hills Dr. and Mrs. Meghwar.  
Hassan: I want to be with Amal. I want to be a doctor. A surgeon.  
Samira: Like dad.  
Hassan: Not like dad.  
Samira: So McKenzie?  
Hassan: I'm seeing her tonight.  
Samira: Have you decided on a strategy.  
Hassan: I am going to tell her the truth. I'm going to tell her I've never known anyone like her. That she is a kind of wonder woman. That she is beautiful and sexy but that I am a conservative Muslim man at heart and eventually when I marry it will be a Muslim girl. I'll say I'm not that different from my father  
Smaira: A complete lie.  
Hassan: No. Not a complete lie. I think I am like father. Otherwise I wouldn't want to be with Amal. I am traditional in some ways. I want a Muslim wife. I don't want a convert. I want a Punjabi speaking wife.  
Samira: Do you want me to go with you to tell McKenzie?  
Hassan: Yes. No. She's not the first girl I've had to break up with.  
Samira: Want to come back here tonight?  
Hassan: Nah, I'll go to my place in The City.  
Jay comes in.  
Hassan: I am going out with McKenzie tonight.  
Jay: Want a suggestion? Wear Kevlar.


	5. Love: Always a circus

Samira and Jay are in bed.  
Samira: Someone is knocking on the door.  
Bailey is lying on the floor next to the bed on Jay's side. She jumps up runs to the front door growling then whining.  
Jay: It's someone Bailey knows. She's whining. She wants to open the door.  
Bailey is standing on her hind legs swiping the door handle with her big front paws.  
Jay: I'll go. Stay here.  
Samira: Where would I go?  
Jay gets up goes to the door.  
Jay: Bailey down. Sit.  
Bailey looks at Jay, gets down but doesn't sit.  
Jay opens the door.  
Hassan is there.  
Jay: Hey man. Come on in. You here for me or your sister.  
Hassan: Sister.  
Jay: Okay. I'll get her. Then I'm going back to bed. You are welcome to stay over. You know. Any time.  
Hassan: Thanks. Probably will tonight.  
Samira comes out putting a wool sweater over her night gown.  
Samira: Heaters off. It's cold in here.  
Hassan: I need to talk. I can build a fire.  
Bailey looks longingly back at the bed where Jay is sleeping. Bailey licks Samira's hand then goes in and jumps on the bed, stretches out next to jay.  
Jay: Get this dog out of here.  
Samira ignores him.  
Smaira: Yeah build a fire. That would be good.  
Hassan starts a fire. Samira curls up on the couch. There is a blanket over the back of the couch. She pulls it off and covers up with it.  
Samira: Hey. It didn't go well?  
Hassan: Well I'm not shot.  
Hassan: I told her I didn't see a future for us.  
Samira: Well that is one that there is almost no argument for.  
Hassan: I think she just likes to have her way.  
Samira: You are a pretty good looking guy.  
Hassan: But you know I'm not that interesting.  
Samira: You are really not.  
Samira: So what happened?  
Hassan: We went to a place in North Beach. She'd heard about it. We had wine. Decent pasta. You and Jay should go.  
Smaira: There are a million great pasta places in Berkeley.  
Hassan: Not like North Beach.  
Samira: So?  
Hassan: I told her I'd never known anyone like her. And that she was beautiful. Reminisced about fun times we'd had. She thought I was going to propose.  
Samira: You poured it on too thick.  
Hassan: So I said that I had applied to medical school and had been accepted and I needed to concentrate on medical school.  
Samira: Good one.  
Hassan: She offered to support me through medical school.  
Samira: She didn't.  
Hassan: She did. I shouldn't have let it go this far. I should have stopped seeing her a year ago. A year and a half ago.  
Samira: Yeah you should have.  
Hassan: I didn't know I was going to fall in love with Amal. It seemed okay. Both. You know. McKenzie was fun. Sex was nice. Then I could tell what was happening with Amal. And I knew I'd have to stop with McKenzie. But you know her. Anyway, I told McKenzie how touched I was by her offering but I didn't see a future for us. That I am deep down a pretty traditional guy and that I would probably let my parents find a girl from Pakistan from Punjab for me when I was ready to marry. And that as much as I loved her, that with medical school coming up, I thought this was the right time for us to go separate ways. That we shouldn't let ourselves get any closer.  
Samira: Okay pretty good.  
Hassan: She offered to convert.  
Samira: No.  
Hassan: She cried.  
Samira: Nooo.  
Jay comes out.  
Jay annoyed: The dog is spread out across the whole bed. How can I sleep with 125 lb dog spread out diagonally across the bed.  
Jay: Samira, that dog is bigger than you are and she takes up a lot more space.  
Bailey follows Jay out. Looks up at him with a hurt look. Goes over an lies down next to the fireplace.  
Jay goes in the kitchen brings out three glasses. A bottle of the Laphroaig a bottle of Crown Royal. Goes to the Chinese chest of drawers. Gets a joint out of the top drawer.  
Jay: I can't sleep, the dog was taking up the whole bed.  
Samira: You could have pushed her off.  
Jay: I tried she growled at me.  
Samira: She didn't mean it. And now she's out here.  
Jay: Sounds like it didn't go well with McKenzie. But you are not shot.  
Hassan: Not shot yet.  
Jay pours a glass of Royal Crown for Hassan then one for Samira. Pours Laphroaig for himself. He sits down on the couch next to Samira. Lights the joint. Offers it to Hassan. Hassan takes it. Samira gets up goes in the kitchen, gets ice cubes, puts them in her glass, comes back sits down next to Jay. He puts his arm around her. Pulls her close. She leans against him. Hassan hands the joint back to Jay. Jay offers it to Samira. She shakes her head.  
Samira: So how did the evening end?  
Hassan: I drove her home walked her upstairs. She wanted me to come in. Have coffee. I shouldn't have gone in. She wanted me to stay over one last time. Have sex. Wanted to be kissed. I said no. I thought it was a bad idea for me to stay over. Didn't kiss her. Said that it would confuse things. Told her it was really hard to change things with her but I knew myself and I knew it was time. She said she thought we had a future and if we didn't why had I let things go on so long. I said I liked her. Liked being with her. Said she was beautiful. She said we'd been together for a year and a half. That she thought we had a future. Thought I loved her. Said she never felt this way before. Then she got mad. Said "You are breaking up with me". "How dare you break up with me?"  
Hassan: So then I got mad too and I said that I thought a relationship meant both people respected how the other person felt and that her not accepting what I was saying meant she didn't respect me or my feelings. Said she was selfish.  
Jay: Good to put a little spin on the ball I guess.  
Smaira: So how did that all go?  
Hassan: She told me to get out and she hoped she'd never see me again. Said she hoped I'd be killed in one of our Mickey Mouse operations.  
Jay: So you left on good terms and are still friends.  
Samira starts to hit Jay and he grabs her hand and holds it. Offers her the joint again.  
Jay: Calm down.  
Jay: Stop hitting me.  
Samira: I'm the sarcastic one.  
Jay to Hassan: Can't you make her stop hitting me?  
Hassan: No thought maybe you could make her stop hitting me.  
Jay: What is wrong with your sister?  
Hassan: Told you already. She has poor impulse control.  
Samira: How dare her call what you guys do Mickey Mouse? She is in the Donald Duck FBI.  
Jay: The Donald Duck FBI?  
Samira: Disney theme?   
Samira: Disney descriptions?  
Jay: Yeah Disney descriptions.  
Samira: What now?  
Hassan: Dunno. Maybe tell Terry and Lord Dunham that McKenzie is available - one might be able to catch her on the rebound. And distract her from wanting my death.  
Jay lifts his glass:  
Jay: You love who you love.  
They touch glasses.  
Hassan: You love who you love.


	6. Chapter 6

Samira is at the table with a cup of coffee. A French Press next to the cup.  
Chantin is in a play pen with an a vintage Fisher Price boat, lots of animals. She is putting the animals on the boat and then taking them off. There is a Noah. He goes off and on the boat too.  
Hassan comes in wearing a t-shirt, jeans, bare feet. Hair sticking out. He is holding a tea in one hand and a scone in the other.  
Samira: Where's Jay?  
Samira: Tex is running. How you feeling?  
Hassan: Horrible. Like I'm an idiot. Asking myself why I would get hooked on an Amal when I can have a McKenzie. What is wrong with me?  
A door slams. They hear Jay open the fridge. Walks into the living room with a bottle of water. Walks over to the play pen. Chantin jumps up.  
Chantin: Daddy. Run.  
Jay leans over kisses her. Points to the boat.  
Jay: Noah. Arc.  
Chantin. Cat.  
Chantin hands him a giraffe.  
jay: That is a giraffe.  
Chantin laughing: Cat.  
Jay: Daddy says that is a giraffe.  
Chantin: Cat.  
samira to Hassan: She knows it's a giraffe. SHe can say giraffe she is teasing Jay.  
Jay: Her mother's daughter.  
Jay walks over to Samira. Kisses her. She sniffs him.  
Samira: Cardamon. Mmm.  
Jay: Stop it. Hassan how you feeling this morning?  
Hassan: Like shit man.  
Chantin says: Shit.  
Samira: Hassan. She is a little parrot. Watch it.  
Hassan: Oops I'm sorry.  
Hassan: Don't feel that good. What is wrong with me man?  
Jay: You love who you love. Ask your sister.  
Samira: Don't ask me. I don't know what I'm dong here.  
Jay: I'm going in to get a shower. What are you doing Hassan?  
Hassan: I guess I'll go in for awhile. I want to talk to Terry about med school. I'll call him from the office. I want to keep working, want to see if there is some way I can do both.  
Jay: He'll accommodate you. He'll get a kick out of one of his guys going to med school.  
Jay goes into the back of the house.  
Hassan's phone buzzes. He shakes his head.  
Hassan: McKenzie.  
He doesn't answer.  
Hassan: What should I do?  
Samira: You did the right thing. Don't go back and forth. Be kind but stick to what you said.  
Samira's phone chimes.  
Samira: She's calling me now.  
Hassan: No. I'm not here.  
Hassan shakes his head.  
Samira pushes speaker on the phone: Hi McKenzie. Yeah he's here. He just went down to his car to get something. Came last night and stayed over. He's trying to teach Chantin to call Bailey dog instead of cat. So far Chantin is winning. By the time he leaves he'll be calling every dog he sees cat. My brother doesn't really like dogs. Yeah, he told me he got into med school. Our father always wanted him to go. Our dad is a surgeon. Did you know that? Let me see if I can find Hassan.  
Hassan shrugs.  
Samira: He just walked in. Hey Hassan it's McKenzie.  
Hassan reaches for the phone.  
Hassan: Good morning. Yeah I came here last night. Wanted to talk to Samira. Yeah I told her a little bit. I'm going in to the office to call Terry or face time with him if I can. I want to talk to him about working part time if I can while I'm in med school. No I haven't decided which one. Probably whoever gives me the best deal or whoever has the best weather.  
Hassan: I'm sorry for hurting you. I care a lot about what you feel. I'm sorry. I am doing what I think is right for both of us.  
Samira blows Hassan a kiss and picks up Chantin and goes in the kitchen. Puts Chantin in a high chair and hands her a package of crackers.  
Chantin: Cookie.  
Hassan comes into the kitchen.  
Hassan: Death sentence lifted.  
Samira: Good to know. No cookie.  
Jay comes in jeans and a t shirt, wet hair.  
Chantin: Cookie. Yes, cookie.  
Jay: Can she have a cookie?  
Samira hands Chantin a piece of a banana  
Chantin: No banana. Cookie.  
Chantin throws the banana on the floor. Bailey picks it up.Carries it around for awhile, drops it on the kitchen floor. Leaves it.  
Jay gives Chantin a peanut-butter cookie.  
Samira: Hey Tex, I thought we were going to do this together. I told her "no cookie".  
Jay: Have I told you how happy you make me. How beautiful you are. How wonderful my life is with you. How brilliant our child is.  
Samira: No I don't think so. None of that.  
Hassan: Stop it you two. I can't stand it.  
Jay: So you still want a hijacker for a wife?  
Hassan: Man, I don't know what I want. I thought I knew. I'm going to go home. I'll see you later Jay.  
Hassan steps on the banana as he leaves the kitchen. He lifts his foot. The banana is squished between his toes.  
Hassan: I have a banana squished on my foot. Your daughter threw a banana on the floor the dog carried it around and now I've stepped on it and its squished in my between my toes. I've changed my mind. I still want Amal. But no children. No dogs.  
He lifts his foot. Samira hands him a paper towel. He wipes the banana off his foot. Squats down, wipes the rest of the banana off the kitchen floor.  
Chantin: Banana .  
Hassan goes in back puts on his shoes. Finger combs his hair.  
Hassan: You want me to change this bed?  
Smaira: Leave it. You'll probably be back. I'll change it if we get a new guest.  
Hassan: Yeah I'll probably be back tonight.  
Samira: Our house is your house. Always welcome here.  
Hassan gets his keys. Kisses Samira and Chantin. Shakes Jay's hand. Leaves.  


Samira: Hey Tex. What is going on with my brother?  
Jay: He's confused.  
Samira: Did you ever feel confused?  
Jay: No. Not after Goa. The first time in Goa. I knew what I wanted. For a long time I wasn't sure what you wanted.  
Samira: What should we do?  
Jay: You offered The Band. If he wants Amal, and she wants him, we'll help them.  
Samira: How?  
Jay: I don’t know help get her something like a witness protection program. New identity. She’d have to leave Pakistan, leave her friends, her family behind. Leave everything behind. Might not ever see her family again. Kind of like what you did in India. But for her it won't be a couple of years. She'll have to start a new life. She'll have Hassan, us, Gale, but from what Hassan has said and you've said, she's a tender soul. Not sure she wouldn't be better off if he let her go. And this morning he didn't look that certain. It will be on him to get her through it.  
Samira: I managed.  
Jay: You're a wolverine. She's a dove.  
Samira: I'm a dove.  
Jay: If you were a bird you'd be a falcon, a hawk a peregrine. Or a peacock.  
Samira: Well if you were a bird you'd be a turkey.  
Chantin: Turkey. Turkey. Turkey.  
jay: No I would not I'd be a Bearded Vulture.  
Samira: What is that?  
Jay: Look it up.


	7. The best present I ever got; a sus ordenes

Jay and Hassan are sitting in an office at Global. A desk. A couple of chairs. A big computer screen. Terry's face is on the computer. Face time.  
Jay: Tell him.  
Hassan licks his lips. Swallows.  
Jay: Tell him.  
Hassan: Okay. Terry, I want to talk to you about a couple of things.  
Terry: Sure.  
Hassan: You know before I went into Six, I was going to go to med school.  
Terry: I don't think I knew that. Your dad though, he's a surgeon, a neurosurgeon.  
Hassan: Yeah. I wanted to be a doctor, but I didn't want to be like him. So I when I was recruited by Six, I went what I thought was an opposite way. But I liked medicine. Always did. So this last year I've been applying to med schools and got in a few places.  
Terry: You leaving me or asking for a scholarship or both.  
Hassan: Neither. I've been offered money at a couple of places. I've saved. I had a college fund from my parents, still money in it. Got the money covered. And I don't want to quit Global, I like working here. I can work but might have to have accommodation for my schedule. I don't know how much time I can offer you but I'd like to stay.  
Terry: I'm sure we can work something out. I feel proud of you man. I like the idea.  
Hassan: Thanks. There is another thing. I don't know quite how to bring it up.  
Terry: Does it have anything to do with a hijacker.  
Hassan: What? What do you mean?  
Terry: I know you have been going to Pakistan, to Faisalabad, over the last year. I figured you were seeing Amal.  
Hassan: Yeah.  
Terry: Something happened between you two on the plane on the way to Cuba is my guess.  
Hassan: You have eyes everywhere Terry.  
Terry: Gale mentioned to me he thought there was something. Just the way you two acted. Does McKenzie know?  
Hassan. I told her last night. I should have stopped seeing McKenzie a year ago.  
Terry: Yeah. You should have.  
Hassan: She wasn't happy. You know Terry, McKenzie is a great girl. I like her a lot. But you know underneath, I'm a pretty traditional guy. Amal is the kind of girl I want. Need. I let things go on with McKenzie. I shouldn't have.  
Terry: Yeah. You shouldn't have. But she's a big girl. She'll get over you.   
Hassan: I thought maybe you’d help her with that.   
Terry: I would have. You saved me though when she chose you. Hassan: What do you mean? Terry: Have started seeing someone. If I’d gotten involved with McKensie would have made this complicated. I’d be the one breaking up with her. I can let Alex know. Lord Dunhill. He was pretty taken with her. I was too.   
Terry: I have been waiting for one of you to get tired of the other. I knew you weren't right for each other.  
Hassan: You really liked her.  
Terry: I did. One that got away. Disappointed me that she wanted you over me. But the woman I’m seeing is someone I’d like to marry. So what about Amal?  
Hassan: I want to see if there is a way to get her here. I thought maybe a new identity. Gale thought maybe the FBI would do a deal some kind of trade for information an immunity deal if she could help them with the guys behind the hijacking.  
Terry: A deal would be difficult and could put her at risk from the hijackers but it would be better in the long run than a new identity. Need a good lawyer to handle the specifics of an immunity deal. Want it iron clad. New identity would mean leaving family and friends, it's like witness protection. And if she were caught and you two had a life established kids dog house could be a mess especially with a medical practice.   
Hassan: I spent the last two nights at Jay and Samira's. I swear after that I think no dogs, no kids. Just Amal and me and a house.  
Jay laughs: Yeah sure. You know you love Chatty and Bailey.  
Terry: Of course we'd do everything to insure she was never discovered if we went new identity, but immunity would be the best way. An air tight immunity that would allow her to come here as herself. Let me think about this. I know some people. She’s a citizen right.  
Hassan: Thanks Terry. I really mean it thank you.  
Terry: Anything for my guys. I'll get back to you.  
Terry clicks off. Screen goes to black then flying toasters.  
Hassan: Flying toasters. Man that is retro.  
Jay: Yeah. I kind of like it though.  
Jay and Hassan sit there.  
Jay: The thing getting Samira back. She miscarried in Goa. I didn't even know she was pregnant. That was what started us on the whole getting her back to England thing. Before that she wanted me to come to India. But after that first pregnancy, she wanted to come back to England. Gale and I figured it out, but Gale did most of it. Sammy and Amelia helped. Terry helped. We can get Amal here but are you sure man?  
Hassan: Didn't you have doubts about Samira?  
Jay: I never had doubts about what I wanted. For a long time I wasn't sure what she wanted. For a long time, I worried she might change her mind, that maybe something would happen and she wouldn't want me. I was afraid one day she would just leave me. I'd wake up and the bed would be empty and she'd be gone her stuff would be gone. That's what happened in Goa the first time we were there. I woke up and she was gone.  
Hassan: You still feel it?  
Jay: Not anymore. Not since she got pregnant. After the wedding. Three weeks. We were sitting on the floor of the bathroom in Venice. She was throwing-up. She was miserable. But I knew. I just knew. I knew she was mine. That she would always be mine. That she wanted to be mine.  
Hassan: You two joke a lot. Tease each other. You say things.  
Jay: We do. Maybe to cover up what we really feel.That's it for me. I can't go around swooning over her. Saying how happy I am. How it feels like miracle every day to have her, to wake up next to her, to spend the day with her, the night with her, come home to her, and Chatty and the house. I mean who can stand somebody that happy. And I don't want to jinx it. So I cover it up by insulting her, teasing her. Making jokes about how awful it is. How awful she is.  
Hassan: I feel it. Everybody feels it around you two. It's like you two make me want what you have.  
Jay: You know I don't think this Amal is at all like Samira. I mean if you want someone like Samira, McKenzie is probably closer.  
Hassan: I just tried to gave her to Terry.  
Jay: You better not ever say that in front of Smaira.  
Hassan: I know.  
Jay: So Amal.  
Hassan: I think it's right with her. Samira wasn't sure about you. She told me. She didn't know until she left you and missed you. I didn't leave Amal but I miss her. It's kind of like I knew what I felt how much I felt for her when I was away from her.  
Jay: So you imagine we get her here and what, she works while you go to med school. Can you support the two of you while you go to med school. Of course, we'll help you.  
Hassan: I have money put away. I had money for med school I never used. I saved while I was in Six. I think we can manage. I could always go to my dad. He would help because it's med school. I'd rather not ask him. But he'd approve of Amal.  
Hassan: So what now?  
Jay: Now we wait. We have to decide whether to go the immunity route or the new identity route. We need to hear what Terry has to say.  
Hassan: Hard to wait.  
Jay: We decided to get Samira back in July. Right after the miscarriage and she didn't go into the embassy til December. Probably going to take about that long either route with Amal. But then she will be here. When Samira came back to England before we got married, we got to know each other. We had never dated. And we dated. I liked dating her. It was like starting over. I thought maybe she'd want some playboy from her old life. But she still wanted to be with me. I tried to explain to her how I felt after I asked her to marry me. After I gave her that ring. I told her about a train set my father's father gave me. It was an art piece I loved it. It was the most wonderful gift I ever got. I was nine. I told your sister she was like the train set. That she was the most wonderful gift I ever got.  
Hassan: I bet she loved being compared to a train set.  
jay: She teases me about it. But she knew. I know she got it.  
Hassan: So Amal and I aren't like you and Samira. Our love isn't like yours, not like what you two have. But the other. I feel that. Yeah, Amal is like the most wonderful present I ever got. That, that is the same.  
Jay: I was just remembering about the night I met you. A gun in the back. "You move you die." Very funny.  
Hassan: I wanted to impress you.  
Jay: Well, you did. You have style Hassan. You understand other people. I know you do. You know that poetry book you gave us. Rumi. I know we thanked you but what you wrote, the Rumi quote in the front. It was like the words I had been looking for. I'd tried to tell Samira what I felt when I first saw her uh before I kidnapped her and I couldn't find the right words and there were the words written in the front of the book you gave us. You wrote what I felt. Like you knew.  
Hassan. I did know. I knew what was between you two. I could see it. I could feel it. That first night I was with you two. But I knew before. I had been watching you two for two days. I could see it.  
Hassan: It isn't that way with Amal. Not like you and Samira. But the way I feel with Amal, it's what I want. She's what I want. I want that gentleness. That sweetness. Yeah.  
Jay: Okay man. A sus ordenes.  
Hassan: What?  
Jay: It means "at your service" in Spanish.  
Jay: A sus ordenes. We are at your service man.


	8. Chapter 8

Jay drives up to an out building at Oakland airport. Parks the Audi, walks in. The a silver jet a Dassault is pulling up. Jay greets a clerk at a desk in the building.  
Jay: I'm going on out there.  
Clerk: Sure. Okay.  
Jay walks out the back door across the tarmac to the jet. Terry comes down the stairs. A flight attendant follows him with a bag.  
Jay: Man, you don't even carry your own bag anymore.  
Terry: I don't want to fall down the steps.  
Terry takes the bag from the flight attendant. Thanks him. Hands the bag to Jay.  
Terry to the attendant:Probably gonna be a couple of days at least. Keep the plane here but I'm not going to need it. Or you guys. I'll give you 24 hours when I'm ready to go. Relax.  
Attendant: Thank you sir.  
Jay: Where are you staying?  
Jay puts Terry's bag in the boot of the Audi.  
Terry: I have friend in Sunnyvale.  
Jay: You could stay with us.  
Terry: Thanks. I appreciate it. Gale offered too. Special friend.   
Jay: Come over while you're here.  
Terry: Sure. I want to see Samira.  
Jay: And you want to see Chantin and Bailey.  
Terry: Yeah of course.  
Terry: I think I'm going to get a place here. I want a comfortable place to take McKenzie. There's a place at the Avery I'm going to look at.  
Jay: The Avery? Yeah, I'd say McKenzie would be comfortable there.  
Terry: You think so? I don't really know her. I mean I've found out everything I can. She has a horse. She rides in the park on the week-ends. Maybe she'd like me better if I had a ranch.  
Jay: She must know you could buy her a ranch, could buy her whatever she wants.  
Terry: Look I want to ask you something.  
Jay: Yeah okay sure.  
Terry: What do you think she saw in Samira's brother. I mean Alex and I were falling all over ourselves to get her attention. And you know most women, most of the time, seem to like us. I don't usually have a woman I'm interested in not reciprocate at least a little. I mean McKenzie kidded around with us but then she made it clear it was Hassan she was interested in. Why?  
Jay: I don't know. I mean Hassan is a good guy. He's funny. He's good-looking to women, I guess. You know what he gave Samira and I for a wedding present?  
Terry: No I don't know.  
Jay: A book of poetry. Rumi. Beautiful book. Silk cover nice design. And he wrote in the front of it. He wrote something from the book and it was what I wanted to say to Samira about the first time I ever saw her but I never could find the right words. But he knew it somehow. I mean there is something about the guy. He likes poetry and he understands people.  
Terry: I like poetry. I even like Shakespeare. To be or not to be that is question whether tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or something  
Jay: He doesn't want her, man. He wants the mousy little hijacker. I mean I've never met her but Samira says she's shy, unassuming. So I think of her as mousy. Maybe she's not. McKenzie is the opposite. Maybe that's it.  
Terry: What's it? Maybe McKenzie wanted Hassan because he wasn't really interested in her?  
Jay: Terry, I can't really help you man. But Samira probably could. I mean I barely understand Samira. The first three years with her I'd wake up and be glad she hadn't left me in the middle of the night. I'm not the guy to ask about this stuff.  
Terry: Do you still worry she'll leave you?  
Jay: Not anymore. Not since Venice. About three weeks after we got married. She was sitting on the bathroom floor throwing-up. She was pregnant. And I got a washcloth put warm water on it and I sat down next to her on the floor and I wiped her face. She put her hands over my hands while I wiped her face and looked at me and I knew, I knew from then on, knew she wouldn't leave me. I knew I didn't have to worry anymore. She says all these things, she teases about how she wants to leave and that she's unhappy but she's playing. Sitting there together next to the toilet on the floor - man her breath was sour her hair was matted her night gown was wet. But I knew. I knew she had decided and I knew she wouldn't leave. I knew I could relax. That I didn't have to worry anymore.  
Terry: Three years?  
Jay: You know my mom was killed when I was 19. July 7. The attacks.  
Terry: I knew that. Yeah.  
Jay: I never really had a girlfriend before Samira. I mean I did but I was never close to the girls I was with. It was different with Samira. It was just different. But talk to Samira. She might be able to help you.  
Jay: You want me to drop you at Gale's or take you to the office.  
Terry: I told Gale I'd meet him at the office. Just drop me there. How about if I take you and Samira out tomorrow night. I want to eat at that Chez Panisse. Just so I can say I did.  
Jay laughs.  
Jay: It's a nice place. Probably can't get anything downstairs - that's a fixed meal but upstairs is first come first serve. We can go upstairs. It's relaxed. The food's good.  
Terry: Let me see what I can arrange.  
Jay: Are you going to ask McKenzie?  
Terry: I don't think so. I want to talk to Samira. Maybe. When it comes to McKenzie I feel like I am 16. I don't feel sure of myself.  
Jay: Does she know you are here?  
Terry: I left a message on her phone.  
Terry's phone buzzes.  
Terry looks down.  
Terry: Speak of the devil  
Terry: Hi McKenzie. You're on speaker. I'm in the car with Jay. He's driving me to the office. I was just thinking about you.  
McKenzie: How long are you here for?  
Terry: A few days. I'm actually thinking of getting a place here. I'm staying with Gale, but I like it here. Thought it might be nice to have a place I could keep some things. Maybe spend a little more time at the office here.  
McKenzie: I wondered if you'd like to do something together. There's a thing they do at Fort Mason. Kind of a street fair thing. Interesting food like Thai tacos, music, local artists, crafts. Street performances. Heat lamps, strings of lights. Drinks. Casual. Usually a nice crowd. Day after tomorrow. Will you still be here?  
Terry: I'm staying for 4-5 days. A street fair. Sure. Can I pick you up?  
McKenzie: Why don't you meet me there. Do you have a car?  
Terry: No but I can get one.  
McKenzie: Just have somebody drop you off. I'll drive you back to Gale's. There's a restaurant there. Green's. Could we meet early. Say 4:30?  
Terry: Sure. Yeah. Okay.  
McKenzie: See you then.  
She hangs up.  
Terry: What do I wear man? Do I bring her flowers? I want to ask her to marry me. Too soon?  
Jay laughing: Yeah, I'd say a little too soon. But wear? It's San Francisco man. Wear jeans and a t-shirt and take a jacket. No flowers. I don't know much but I know that. I mean you are going to walk around a street fair. What would she do with them?  
Jay: I think she might ask you back to her place.  
Terry: You think so?  
Jay: I'd think that if a girl asked me to meet her and said she'd drop me off. You know Terry you always seemed real relaxed, in control with women. What makes you so different when it comes to McKenzie.  
Terry: She's FBI man.  
Jay: Don't think that's it.  
Jay: Can we talk about Hassan's hijacker?  
Terry: That's partly why I came. I'm meeting Will tomorrow. I want to start with immunity. Will may know someone. I like him. We get along.  
Jay: And you can always ask him about McKenzie.  
Terry: You think there was something between them.  
jay: No I don't think so. Didn't pick up anything like that.  
Terry: I want to ask Samira about the hijacker. What does Samira think of her.  
Jay: That she is sweet and gentle and unassuming. She likes her.  
Terry: Kind of a tangled web. Me, McKenzie Hassan the hijacker.  
Jay: Yeah it is.  
Jay pulls up at the Salesforce building.  
Terry: Gonna come up?  
Jay: Nah going home. Wanna see my girls. I'll see you tomorrow night. Want me to pick you up?  
Terry. No I'll get a car or a driver. I'll call you about dinner.  
Jay: Come to the house first. Samira will like that.  
Terry: You still have that dog?  
Jay: Yeah Bailey. Big old sweet dog. Great with the baby.  
Terry: I like that dog. Would take her off your hands anytime. Jay: Samira would probably give up the baby first. Terry: See you tomorrow. Thanks man.  
Jay: No problem.  
Jay gets out, gets Terry's bag. Hands it to him. Terry goes into building.

Jay drives home across the Bay Bridge.

Jay opens the door. Samira is sitting on the floor of the living room. Chantin is asleep on the floor on a blanket. The dog is lying next to Chantin. Chantin opens her eyes starts to get up, falls back to sleep. The dog rouses herself ambles over to Jay.  
Samira puts her finger to her lips: Shhhh. Finally got her down for a nap  
Jay: It's five. She'll be up all night.  
Samira: I know but I just needed a rest .  
Jay: Let's get her up and feed her. I want some time with you tonight.  
Samira: Okay  
Jay: Wake up Chatty. Daddy's home.  
Chantin opens her eyes again, gets up, sleepily walks over to Jay. He picks her up, carries her into the kitchen. Samira and the dog follow.  
Jay: Chatty, Daddy is going to cook. And Chatty can help.  
Chatty: Help Daddy.  
Jay holds her to the sink.  
Jay: First we wash our hands. Chantin puts her hands out and jay washes them, then puts her in the high chair. Hands her two pieces of bread.  
Jay: Tear this bread into pieces.  
Jay shows her. Samira sits on a kitchen stool. Jay gets out wine pours her a glass.  
Samira: So what are we having. Something breaded?  
Jay: salmon loaf with cardamom, spinach salad with pecans. 

Jay carries Chantin in to bed, puts her down. The dog follows and lies down next to the crib.  
Chantin: Story  
Jay reads her Good Night Moon. She falls asleep a few pages into it. But Jay finishes the book anyway, covers her. Goes out to the living room. Samira is asleep on the couch.  
Jay: Hey wake up. I want to talk to you.  
Samira opens her eyes. Doesn't lift her head.  
Samira: I'm not waking-up for talking. Maybe for sex. But not for talking.  
Jay: You're tired.  
Samira: I told you I wasn't ready to be a mom.  
Jay: You were as ready as you were ever going to be. Terry wants to take us to Chez Panisse tomorrow.  
Samira: Okay. I'll call Allison to see if she can come and sit with the demon.  
Jay: Terry wants to talk to you.  
Samira: About what?  
Jay: Amal and McKenzie.  
Samira: What does he want to know?  
Jay: Not really sure. He asked me why McKenzie preferred your brother to him, to Alex.  
Samira: Easy one. Because my brother seems dangerous and he is sensitive and he understands people in this sort of eerie way and because my brother is unattainable for a woman like McKenzie.  
Jay: But what Terry wants to know is how he can make McKenzie feel about him the way she felt about your brother.  
Samira: He can't.  
Jay: That is not what he wants to hear.  
Samira: They would be good together Terry and McKenzie. My brother would never be with anyone like McKenzie not really. In a way he's like you. You really would have preferred an Amal. A mouse.  
Jay: You're wrong. All I ever wanted was you. Even before I met you I wanted you.  
Samira: Then you should definitely have sex with me tonight.  
Jay laughing: I thought you were tired.  
Samira: I am. You do all the work. I'll just lie there dreamily.  
Jay: I'll try not to wake you up too much. 1 


	9. Chapter 9

They are sitting downstairs at Chez Panisse.

Jay: We’ve never eaten downstairs. How’d you get a table.

Terry: They had a cancellation. I called someone who knew the owner. Your dad probably knows people who know her. Quaint. Very quaint here. So Samira, I want to talk about Amal. 

Samira: Okay. What?


End file.
